Taxing big tech to finance journalism: RSF urges governments to follow the Forum on Information and Democracy’s recommendations

Published on 1 September, the Forum's reportcontains valuable recommendations on introducing a tax on large digital platforms, which would provide the funds needed to defend quality journalism. The Forum highlights that a specific digital taxation framework is not just necessary but urgent - far from the claims by US President Donald Trump that any such initiative is an attack on American interests.

Having reviewed the preliminary conclusions, RSF considers that this tax is an answer to the challenges posed by the media's economic precarity - one of the main threatsto press freedom, as reflected in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

Policy recommendations consistent with RSF findings

In its report "Pressures on Public Service Media: A decisive test for European democracies",RSF advocated for financing public service media through a tax redistributed by an independent body instead of annual budget votes. The Forum's proposed legislative framework adopts this approach, which would reduce political influence on publicly funded media outletsand safeguard their editorial independence.

The Forum's report also recommends including generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems into the scope of this tax. This is consistent with the RSF analysis that developers of AI models should share revenues with news publishers. From training AI models to providing reliable information through consumer-facing conversational agents, high-quality journalism is a key resource for the generative-AI economy.

Taking action - without waiting for a global framework

The reportstresses the need to take immediate action at the national level, without waiting for an international global agreement, which is unlikely given the current geopolitical context. Some countries, such as Austria and France, have already introduced taxes on digital platforms, but without ensuring that these funds benefit journalism.

RSF encourages these trailblazing nations to channel this revenue towards quality information and calls on other democracies - particularly the European Union (EU), given the upcoming negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - to follow suit. The Forum's report provides all the elements needed to build a lasting taxation system capable of rebalancing power dynamics with major digital platforms.

Read the report: A Digital Tax to Support Quality Journalism.